Charbel: Women in the ISF are not allowed to wear the hijab

Neither veils nor any other religious symbol are allowed to be worn with the uniform of security personnel in all state institutions, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told The Daily Star Thursday, after women who wear the hijab were accepted by the Internal Security Forces. “We have fought against wearing religious symbols in security institutions even before the 1970s, and we now have a uniform for every security institution; it’s ridiculous to discuss this issue nowadays,” said Charbel. When the Internal Security Forces opened its doors for new recruits this year, hundreds of men and women sat for an exam to join the national police force. Several hundred women passed the exam and started their first training session earlier this week. Among the women who passed the exam were 39 who wear the hijab. On Tuesday, the new recruits began their first training session, but many of the women failed to take part because they refused to remove their hijab. The Daily Star could not independently verify how many of the hijab-wearing women joined the training session by agreeing to the military code of conduct and removing their head covering. Security sources said that while all personnel are allowed to pray according to their faiths, all religious symbols are forbidden under the bylaws of the security and military institutions. ISF Major Suzanne Hajj, who welcomed the new women recruits earlier this week, reported the case of the veiled women to ISF Commander Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, who in turn consulted with the government on the matter. Also Thursday, Charbel was reported as saying that successful women applicants to the ISF were transferred to the ISF’s civil service departments. Amid the various media reports on the issue, Charbel said that despite the ISF’s sacrifices in the country, it is deliberately being targeted by critics. “Although this issue is meaningless, why hasn’t there been any problem with the code of conduct within the Army or General Security?” asked Charbel. According to Charbel, the Lebanese Army, General Security, Judicial Police and the ISF all have similar codes of conduct with regard to the sanctity of the uniform. “It is inappropriate to have the military uniform mix with outside accessories,” he says. “Imagine security personnel wears a white beret and another wears a blue one or imagine someone who wants to keep a beard.” Charbel, a former Brigadier General of the ISF, was irritated that the issue was being discussed despite the presence of women in all security institutions. “There are no problems with women in any of the security institutions, but there is something called security bylaws [code of conduct],” the minister said.